Pete Rose found home in Las Vegas before nation began to embrace sports betting

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Pete Rose found home in Las Vegas before nation began to embrace sports betting

2024-10-02 08:08 Last Updated At：08:10

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Betting on baseball got Pete Rose banned from the game, never to return while he was alive.

But, perhaps appropriately, he found a home in the nation's gambling capital — where acceptance wasn't a problem.

In choosing to live in Las Vegas, before the sport's career hits leader died Monday at 83, the man known as Charlie Hustle for his relentless play on the basepaths picked a city that embraced legalized sports betting long before most of the rest of the nation caught on.

Rose was a regular at autograph sessions throughout the Las Vegas area, engaging with those who approached him to talk about his glory days with the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies and maybe even to commiserate about why he wasn't eligible for the Hall of Fame.

“He was very patient with his time,” said Jay Kornegay, executive vice president of race and sports operations at Westgate Las Vegas. “He wasn't in and out. After the sessions, he stayed around and spent time with the fans and answered a lot of questions. His whole history speaks for itself, but as far as the Hall of Fame and betting on sports, he was more popular than ever.”

According to the medical examiner, Rose had hypertension and heart disease as well as diabetes, but his “manner of death was natural.”

Rose appeared to be a certain Hall of Famer after a brilliant playing career spent mostly with his hometown Reds. He was a 17-time All-Star, won three World Series rings and set the record with 4,256 hits to surpass Ty Cobb’s long-held mark of 4,191.

But his journey to Cooperstown got derailed when Rose was embroiled in a betting scandal while managing the Reds. A Major League Baseball investigation determined that Rose bet on MLB games between 1985 and 1987, including those involving the Reds, and he agreed to a lifetime ban in August 1989.

Rose denied the allegations for many years before acknowledging in 2004 he gambled on baseball, in hopes the sport would allow him back in its good graces and eventual entry into the Hall of Fame.

One of Las Vegas' most known and prolific sports bettors, Billy Walters, said Rose erred from the beginning.

“He should've never bet on baseball,” said Walters, who grew up in Kentucky and was a big fan of the Reds and Rose. "There are a lot of things you can gamble on. Secondarily, after he got caught, he should've fessed up and told the truth. He should've asked for forgiveness. I think if he had done that, it might've taken a while, but I think he would've been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“But he made those two mistakes, and he continued to bet on baseball after he was seeking a spot in the Hall of Fame. Look, there's no one in the world who's more pro-gambling than I am, but if you're in some sport, especially baseball ... you're not allowed to do that.”

Baseball tried to distance itself from sports betting, legal or otherwise, after the Black Sox scandal in which eight Chicago White Sox players were banned for throwing the 1919 World Series to, coincidentally, the Cincinnati Reds.

White Sox star Shoeless Joe Jackson, who had a lifetime .356 batting average, was one of the players banished and, like Rose, is not in the Hall of Fame.

The sport has had other various betting controversies since then, including Los Angeles Dodgers manager Leo Durocher and Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain getting suspended for gambling. Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, despite being long retired, were reprimanded for associating with casinos.

Baseball wasn't alone in its condemnation of even legal forms of gambling. The other major professional sports leagues as well as the NCAA maintained the same stance until the United States Supreme Court in 2018 ruled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act passed by Congress in 1992 was unconstitutional.

Until then, only Nevada offered legal single-game wagering. Now 38 states have legalized sports betting, and companies from BetMGM Sportsbook to Caesars Entertainment to DraftKings advertise prominently during MLB, NFL, NBA and NHL games as well as college football and basketball.

Leagues and college conferences have contractual relationships with gambling companies, which can create an odd dynamic. Officials don't want any hint of impropriety and work with firms that monitor betting to make sure nothing illicit takes place, which has led to several athletes getting disciplined for sports betting.

Some rules have softened to allow players to return to the field or arena more quickly, an indication that each infraction is not viewed in the same manner. An athlete who bets on another sport, for example, is not held in the same light as one who gambles on a game in which they are participating.

Fay Vincent, MLB commissioner from 1989-92, said Tuesday his sport may have to create a separate category in the Hall of Fame for those accused of betting on the game or taking performance-enhancing drugs.

“There's going to have to be a sorting out of corruption and sports, and gambling is right at the crossroads of that,” Vincent said. "I'm predicting there will be a sort of subterranean Hall of Fame for those who are tainted, but recognition that we're going to honor their baseball but not their corruption.

“At the same time, I think there will be a recognition that the overwhelming financial impact of gambling on sports cannot be tolerated without some national supervision and legal dimension because the gamblers are going to try to rig the games as they always do. That explosion is going to require a total re-examination of what we've done to ourselves.”

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

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In new role, former catcher Buster Posey plans to bring Giants back to respectability, winning

2024-10-02 08:08 Last Updated At：08:10

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — In recent weeks and months, Buster Posey began to ponder the possibility of taking on something he insisted he'd never do in joining the baseball operations department for the Giants.

The star catcher said he wouldn't do it upon retiring three years ago. Yet Posey ultimately dearly missed being part of a team.

Long the face of a franchise for San Francisco with three World Series titles to his name, Posey will now be calling the shots on what the club is going to look like going forward.

The 37-year-old retired catcher was introduced as president of baseball operations on Tuesday following the dismissal of Farhan Zaidi a day earlier.

“As far as general philosophy as many of you know me a lot of my basic principles are pretty simple,” Posey said. “I want us to be known as a team that’s the ultimate prepared team, one that’s fundamentals are held at a really high standard and ultimately this is all about the players.”

Posey's first order of business will be hiring a general manager, as Pete Putila won't return in that role but the plan is for him to take on different duties. Posey also noted his admiration for manager Bob Melvin, but that his contract status beyond the 2025 season isn't an immediate top priority.

“It’s Buster Posey, he’s the Giants, that’s a big deal,” Melvin said. "When somebody like Buster asks for the ball you give it to him.”

Melvin figures the Giants are likely to be “probably a little bit more well-rounded team” than the group he guided in his first season as skipper after leaving the San Diego Padres. San Francisco, which won a franchise-record 107 games and the NL West in Posey's final season of 2021, wound up 80-82 with one more victory than in Gape Kapler's last year of 2023.

All-Star pitcher Logan Webb can't wait to see Posey regularly back in his element.

“Buster is one of those guys that makes everyone in the room perk up when he was in the room and you hear his voice,” Webb said in a text message. “I was lucky enough to play with him and see what he brought into the clubhouse as a player each and every day. Now he gets to truly mold a team the way he thinks baseball should look and how it should be played and I’m excited for that. I think it’s a very good thing for the Giants moving forward.”

Posey “has a three-year deal with no contingencies or anything,” according to Giants Chairman Greg Johnson. The seven-time All-Star also will remain on the ownership board even given his new position with Johnson noting that whenever there’s a conflict, someone just steps out of a meeting when necessary.

Another order of business will be bringing back left-hander and two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell, who in March received a $62 million, two-year contract with an opt out. He overcame a slow start and injuries to go 5-3 with a 3.12 ERA over 20 starts.

“Blake's one of the premier starting pitchers in the big leagues, has been for a while," Posey said. “He’s obviously somebody that's going to be a priority for us to take a hard look at and make a decision as a group.”

Posey was instrumental in helping finalize Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman's $151 million, six-year contract early last month that keeps him with the Giants from 2025-30 without going through free agency.

In taking this job, Posey needed the support of wife Kristen as the couple have four children. They moved back to the Bay Area following a stay in Posey's native Georgia after his playing career ended, but never with this plan in mind.

“I think she could just tell how excited I was about this opportunity,” he said.

Posey was the Giants' fifth overall pick in the first round of the 2008 draft and earned 2010 NL Rookie of the Year honors before being named 2012 NL MVP as San Francisco won the second of its three every-other-year World Series titles.

He also is working to complete his degree in social science from Florida State via online courses and has a semester remaining.

“I'm chipping away at it,” he said.

By building a strong and experienced staff around him Posey hopes to empower everyone in the organization from the lower minor-league levels to the very top without looking over shoulders of those who work for him.

Posey stressed how baseball connects generations of family members and strangers alike while acknowledging the game's entertainment value.

"We’re in a memory-making business," he said.

Posey envisions a blend of both scouting and analytics for the Giants' front office.

“Most definitely going to use analytics, analytics are here and they're here to stay, and it would be a mistake to say that you're not going to use that information.”

Johnson said he and Posey will find others to complement Posey's skill set and that the former first-round draft pick asked for the chance to be more hands on in building the club — “it was really Buster's desire to be accountable 100% for the baseball and that spoke a lot to me.”

“This certainly is a momentous day for the Giants organization,” Johnson said. “... We all know Buster as the player, all the tremendous memories that we had with him in leading us to three World Series, the Hall of Fame, MVP career. But those aren't the reasons that we're here today. I think for me and for the board what we have observed with Buster in working with him over the last three years is competitive fire he has to win, it didn't end when he took his jersey off, it's as strong today as ever.”

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